Image credit: PBS
- The Vietnam War was a long, deadly struggle that took place from 1954 to 1975 between North Vietnam and South Vietnam
- The U.S. National Archives shows that 58,220 U.S. soldiers perished.
- North Vietnamese troops launched the Tet Offensive in January 1968, which was successful against South Vietnam and the U.S.
What year had the most casualties in the Vietnam War?
• November 1965: Nearly 300 Americans are killed and hundreds more injured in the first large-scale battle of the war, the Battle of la Drang Valley. At the battle, in South Vietnam’s Central...
What were the total casualties of the Vietnam War?
These are the most accurate estimates of the death tolls for each group of fighters:
- The United States lost 58,220 known military personnel. ...
- It is estimated that South Vietnam lost between 200,000 and 250,000 fighters.
- The Viet Cong lost around 1.1 million combatants.
- Around 2 million civilians were killed in the territories of North and South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. ...
How many veterans were still alive after the Vietnam War?
As of this date The American War Library estimates that approximately 610,000 Americans who served on land in Vietnam or in the air over Vietnam between 1954 and 1975 are alive today. And approximately 164,000 Americans who served at sea in Vietnam waters are alive today.
How many US soldiers died in past Vietnam War?
The Vietnam War was a long, deadly struggle that took place from 1954 to 1975 between North Vietnam and South Vietnam The U.S. National Archives shows that 58,220 U.S. soldiers perished. North Vietnamese troops launched the Tet Offensive in January 1968, which was successful against South Vietnam and the U.S.
What is DCAS extract file?
The full casualty records of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files are accessible online for name searches (as well as for searches using any of the other fields identified in the data layout of the files in this series) for records of specific casualties via the Access to Archival Databases (AAD) resource.
What is the difference between DCAS and DCAS?
The reason for the differences is due to the fact that the date reported for the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files is the date-of-death or the date-of-incident, whereas the date for the Combat Area Casualties Current File is the date-of-death or the date on which the casualty was declared dead.
What is the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File?
The Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files is the successor database to the Combat Area Casualties Current File. The Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the DCAS contains 27 more records than the Combat Area Casualties Current File as of December 1998, which contains 58,193 records. Additionally, there are some changes to the fields between the two files, most notably in the respective date-of-death fields. The date-of-death reported in the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files is either the actual date-of-death or the date-of-incident, whereas the date-of-death for the Combat Area Casualties Current File is either the actual date-of-death or the date on which the casualty was declared dead.
How many deaths were there in the Vietnam War?
The Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files contains records of 58,220 U.S. military fatal casualties of the Vietnam War. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. The earliest casualty record contains a date of death of June 8, 1956, and the most recent casualty record contains a date of death of May 28, 2006. The Defense Casualty Analysis System Extract Files were created by the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The records correspond to the Vietnam Conflict statistics on the DMDC web site, which is accessible online at https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/dcas/pages/main.xhtml .
When was the first casualty record?
The earliest casualty record contains a date of death of June 8, 1956, and the most recent casualty record contains a date of death of May 28, 2006. The Defense Casualty Analysis System Extract Files were created by the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) of the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Is a record count official?
Record counts provided for informational purposes only, not official statistics.
How many US soldiers died in Vietnam in 1968?
Subsequently, question is, how many US soldiers died in Vietnam in 1968? The deadliest week of the Vietnam War for the USA was during the Tet Offensive specifically February 11–17, 1968, during which period 543 Americans were killed in action, and 2547 were wounded.
What was the deadliest week of the Vietnam War?
The deadliest week of the Vietnam War for the USA was during the Tet Offensive specifically February 11–17, 1968, during which period 543 Americans were killed in action, and 2547 were wounded.
What was the Vietnam War?
The Vietnam War took place from 1954 to 1975. Image credit: PBS 1 The Vietnam War was a long, deadly struggle that took place from 1954 to 1975 between North Vietnam and South Vietnam 2 The U.S. National Archives shows that 58,220 U.S. soldiers perished. 3 North Vietnamese troops launched the Tet Offensive in January 1968, which was successful against South Vietnam and the U.S.
How many people died in the Vietnam War?
Like all wars, this long conflict led to a tragic loss of life. In 1995, Vietnam released its official estimate of fatalities. They included about two million civilians on both sides of the conflict, along with 1.1 million Viet Cong and North Vietnamese fighters. The U.S. Military estimated that approximately 200,000 to 250,000 South Vietnamese perished in the Vietnam War.
What war was between North Vietnam and South Vietnam?
The Vietnam War was a long, deadly struggle that took place from 1954 to 1975 between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The two governments were pitted against each other in a war that was part of the larger Indochina Wars. Communist North Vietnam and its allies fought against South Vietnam (the Viet Cong) and its allies, including the United States.
How long did the Vietnam War last?
The Vietnam War lasted until July 2, 1976. Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash
How did communism develop in Vietnam?
Communism developed in Vietnam, splitting the country into its South and North. In 1954, North Vietnam defeated French colonial rule and tried to unify the whole country under one communist regime. The South Vietnamese government fought to preserve democratic values.
What was the name of the country that was renamed the Socialist Republic of Vietnam?
South Vietnam had surrendered, and North Vietnam came in to occupy Saigon and institute their military government. The country was renamed as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, with the new capital in Hanoi. Ellen Kershner June 10 2020 in History. Home.
What was the most famous protest in 1967?
On October 21, 1967, one of the best-know anti-war protests took place at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, with about 100,000 in attendance. About a third of them marched on the Pentagon that night. There was a violent confrontation with demonstrators and U.S. Marshals; hundreds were arrested as they tried to storm the building. That same year, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. publicly opposed the war on moral grounds. MLK also led a march in Chicago on March 25, calling the war “a blasphemy against all that America stands for.”
How many people died in Vietnam?
The human costs of the long conflict were harsh for all involved. Not until 1995 did Vietnam release its official estimate of war dead: as many as 2 million civilians on both sides and some 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters. The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died in the war. In 1982 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., inscribed with the names of 57,939 members of U.S. armed forces who had died or were missing as a result of the war. Over the following years, additions to the list have brought the total past 58,200. (At least 100 names on the memorial are those of servicemen who were actually Canadian citizens.) Among other countries that fought for South Vietnam on a smaller scale, South Korea suffered more than 4,000 dead, Thailand about 350, Australia more than 500, and New Zealand some three dozen.
What was the Vietnam War?
Vietnam War, (1954–75), a protracted conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong, against the government of South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. Called the “American War” in Vietnam (or, in full, the “War Against the Americans to Save the Nation”), ...
What did the South Vietnamese government do?
The South Vietnamese government, on the other hand, fought to preserve a Vietnam more closely aligned with the West. U.S. military advisers, present in small numbers throughout the 1950s, were introduced on a large scale beginning in 1961, and active combat units were introduced in 1965.
How many Vietnamese soldiers died in Vietnam?
The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., lists more than 58,300 names of members of the U.S. armed forces who were killed or went missing in action.
What did the Soviet Union and China do to help the North?
Meanwhile, the Soviet Union and China poured weapons, supplies, and advisers into the North, which in turn provided support, political direction, and regular combat troops for the campaign in the South. The costs and casualties of the growing war proved too much for the United States to bear, and U.S. combat units were withdrawn by 1973.
How many soldiers did Johnson send to South Vietnam?
Johnson raised the number of South Vietnam deployments to 23,000 U.S. soldiers by the end of his first year in office. Political turbulence there and two alleged North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. naval vessels spurred Johnson to demand the passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964.
When did the boat people flee?
A mass exodus in 1975 of people loyal to the South Vietnamese cause was followed by another wave in 1978 of “ boat people ,” refugees fleeing the economic restructuring imposed by the communist regime.
What was the name of the group that split Vietnam in half?
The Geneva conference established a treaty that split the nation of Vietnam in half for the time being, with reunification elections set to be held in 1956. Ho Chi Minh created the Viet Cong as a resistance force to French democracy. He took over the city of Hanoi and declared independence from France in 1954.
Why did the United States fight in the Cold War?
This stemmed from the United States' involvement in the Cold War, which the United States fought to preserve democracy against the forces of Communism springing up in countries such as the Soviet Union and China. Ho Chi Minh was outraged and began to engage his forces in small fights with South Vietnamese troops.
How many American troops were sent to South Vietnam?
2.7 million American troops were sent to South Vietnam. South Vietnam supplied a total of 942,000 troops. Other nations such as Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and the Philippines provided a limited number of troops to South Vietnamese forces. The Viet Cong amassed an estimated 2.3 million troops by 1975.
Where was the Vietnam War fought?
The Vietnam War was fought in Vietnamese territory between mainly South Vietnam/the United States and the Viet Cong of North Vietnam. The Vietnam War began mainly over political conflict between Ho Chi Minh's Communist state of North Vietnam and the U.S.-supported democracy of South Vietnam.
How many people died in the Vietnam War?
Vietnam War Casualties and Statistics. The Vietnam War death toll is estimated to be around 3.8 million casualties in total. Not all of these were military personnel; nearly half of the deaths of the Vietnam War were the deaths of civilians caught in the fighting.
Why did the US go to war with Vietnam?
The US entered into war with Vietnam because they did not want the spread of Communism to occur in the democratic state of South Vietnam. This was part of the Cold War effort to prevent the spread of Communism across the globe. North Vietnam had won victory over the French and was likely to make South Vietnam submit to a Communist regime.
How many fighters did South Vietnam lose?
It is estimated that South Vietnam lost between 200,000 and 250,000 fighters.
Beginnings
The Human Costs
- Like all wars, this long conflict led to a tragic loss of life. In 1995, Vietnam released its official estimate of fatalities. They included about two million civilians on both sides of the conflict, along with 1.1 million Viet Cong and North Vietnamese fighters. The U.S. Military estimated that approximately 200,000 to 250,000 South Vietnamese per...
More Data
- During the Vietnam War, there were hardly any females placed on active duty. Out of the 58,220 soldiers, just eight were women. As for the different branches, 38,224 were in the Army, 14,844 were in the Marine Corps, 2,586 in the Air Force, 2,559 in the Navy, and seven from the Coast Guard. Counts by Race White 49,830 Black or African American 7,243 American Indian/Alaskan …
Other Conflicts
- Looking at other wars that the U.S. was involved in, the loss of life during Vietnam falls somewhere around the middle. Civil War: 498,332 World War II: 291,557 Vietnam War: 58,220 World War I: 53,402 Korean War: 36,574 Some have pointed out that the number of lives lost in the Vietnam War has been surpassed by fatalities from COVID-19. As of June 8, 2020, the CDC sho…
Vietnam War Protests
- After the United States joined the Vietnam War, small protests began on college campuses and other areas. Once the U.S. started heavily bombing North Vietnam in 1965 though, more demonstrations were organized, including the one by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). By November 1967, the number of American troops in Vietnam was around 500,000; there were 10…
The Final Ending
- Though many Americans were strongly opposed to this war, things did not really change until January 1973, when President Nixon announced the end to U.S. involvement. On January 27, 1973, the Paris Peace Agreement was signed. The war did not officially end until July 2, 1976, though. South Vietnam had surrendered, and North Vietnam came in to occupy Saigon and instit…